Nebraska coach Tim Miles and his assistants gathered in their locker room at Michigan State’s Breslin Center last Sunday, preparing to board a triumphant flight home.

Sophomore sensation Terran Petteway poked his head around the corner.

“Hey coach — no turnovers.”

“I said yeah, that’s just because you took bad shots before you had a chance to turn it over,” Miles recalled.

“So here’s a kid that locked up Gary Harris, did a really good job on a kid who’s going to be in the NBA, and he’s carried the load for us on offense, and yet he was really proud he didn’t turn the ball over.”

That anecdote encapsulates both Miles’ wry charm and the determination of the Big Ten Conference’s most dynamic newcomer. It also helps explain why the Cornhuskers are a growing sensation in their hometown of Lincoln and an emerging force in what many consider the nation’s toughest conference.

Including last Sunday’s stunning 60-51 victory in East Lansing, Nebraska has won four straight and six of its last seven. After entering the Big Ten three years ago in the shadow of its dominant football program, the Cornhuskers have climbed to sixth place and crept into the NCAA tournament bubble conversation.

Nebraska thrives in its impressive new arena, which Purdue visits on Sunday. But opposing coaches say there’s more to the Cornhuskers’ emergence than home court advantage.

“There’s an excitement there, but you’ve got to have a talented team to win in this league home or away,” Michigan coach John Beilein said. “Tim has put together a talented team that has played really well together, and that takes time.

“You saw that (Sunday) with Michigan State; I don’t think anybody would have called that. This team has a lot of developing talent and talented players that Tim is doing a great job with.”

When Nebraska fired Doc Sadler after in March 2012, athletic administrators sought a coach with the energy and proven acumen for building a program. The first interview went to then-Colorado State coach Miles.

“We talked to other folks,” Nebraska executive associate athletic director Marc Boehm said, “but we just kept coming back to Tim and the things he was able to provide.”

Miles built Colorado State from a seven-win team in his first season to three straight postseason berths, including the program’s first NCAA tournament appearance in nine years.

That turnaround mirrored his success at previous stops at North Dakota State, which went from 11 wins to 20 in his first two seasons, and Southwest Minnesota State, which became a Division II national contender.

Boehm said the Cornhuskers didn’t just need a coach; they also needed someone to sell the fan base on the program. Again, Miles and his personality, which bounces from exuberant to professorial to quippy, matched the job description.

“He doesn’t take things too seriously,” Boehm said. “People can relate to him. He’s always got a smile on his face, and people have really gravitated toward his personality. Not only that, he’s a good coach.

“He’s a very honest individual. He says it like it is. He’s really warmed up with the fans and done a remarkable job.”

Nebraska finished 15-18 in Miles’ first season, including a home victory over NCAA tournament team Minnesota. Only five of those victories came in conference play, but a buzz began to build in Lincoln, with two big additions on the horizon.

The $180 million Pinnacle Bank Arena is the centerpiece of the city’s West Haymarket district development. Boehm said, while the athletic department expected the new venue to sell out, they were surprised to sell all 15,200 tickets in just a few weeks.

The Cornhuskers are 12-1 at home, losing only to Big Ten title contender Michigan by one point. Beilein said the arena had a “unique and novel excitement.”

“It is now another typical Big Ten road venue, just in terms of there’s energy, there’s excitement,” said Ohio State coach Thad Matta, whose team lost 68-62 at Pinnacle Bank on Jan. 20. “The night we went in there, it was completely packed.”

Petteway, a 6-foot-6 wing from Galveston, Texas, waited for his own unveiling. He sat out the 2012-13 season after transferring from Texas Tech, where he averaged 3.3 points and 2.1 rebounds as a freshman.

Miles said he’s never had a harder-working player, and Petteway used that year to develop as a shooter and ballhandler and increase his strength. The payoff: entering the weekend, Petteway leads the Big Ten in scoring at 18 points per game.

Petteway hit 4 of 10 3-pointers and scored 23 points in the Michigan State upset. Spartans coach Tom Izzo later remarked: “We couldn’t cover him with a fishing net yesterday.”

Despite Petteway’s emergence, the Cornhuskers were just 9-9 going into a home game against Minnesota on Jan. 26. Petteway poured in a season-high 35 points, and Nebraska needed all of them in an 82-78 victory.

The next day, Miles dismissed junior guard Deverell Biggs from the team. At the time the teams’ third-leading scorer with 9.9 points per game, Biggs had played only 15 games over two seasons due to a variety of disciplinary issues.

More than one Big Ten coach pointed to Miles’ handling of that situation when asked about Nebraska’s recent surge. The Cornhuskers are 5-1 since the dismissal.

“I think guys are buying in,” Izzo said. “He moved his lineup around, got rid of a bad apple, and when that happens teams tend to flourish. That happens a lot of times; addition by subtraction. Give him credit — he did a helluva job on that.”

Miles said he isn’t sure whether or not the team’s success without Biggs is coincidental. He does know the Cornhuskers are playing better defense (four of their last six opponents didn’t reach 60 points) and capitalizing offensively.

The victory at East Lansing gave Nebraska its signature victory. The Cornhuskers avoided a letdown with Thursday’s convincing 80-67 home victory over Penn State.

Of the team’s final five games, three are at home, and only one is against a team with a winning record in the league (Wisconsin, in the finale). Few predicted it, but Nebraska could take a top-six seed or better into the Big Ten tournament and can contend for the program’s first NCAA tournament berth since 1998.

“Coach Miles and the guys we have on our staff and our players, we’re changing the program of Nebraska basketball,” Petteway said after the Michigan State game. “And there’s a lot more. It’s just the beginning for us.”